Oil pumping apparatus



Patented June 16, 1936 r NITED STATES 2,044,013 7 I OIL PUMPING APPARATUS Bengt Olsson, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Acme Tank Cleaning. Process Corporation, New- York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 9, 1935, Serial No. 30,434

4 Claims.

My invention relates to an apparatus and method whereby viscous material like oil, molasses and heavy sludge may be pumped by a conventional force pump.

The device is specifically adopted to be installed on board tankers and oil burning vesselsand connected to their regular ballast pumps.

Like my previous invention, disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 1,858,682 I provide a steam jet air eX- hauster which is used in combination with a conventional reciprocating pump. However the method of connecting the air exhauster to the pump is entirely different from the arrangement disclosed in my prior patent.

I have found that the device disclosed in my previous patent becomes inoperative when heavy viscous oils and residues are to be pumped against.

a considerable elevation. .I have discovered that the reason therefor is that the force pump becomes airb0undi. e. air collects in the pump pressure chamber and it acts as a cushion against the action of the piston, the result being that the air lodged in the pump will compress and expand without any material passing through the pump.

Now, therefore, the object of my present invention is to connect the air exhauster to the force pump in such a manner that the pump cannot become air bound but will at all times be able to transfer viscous material against considerable elevation. My invention, therefore, has for its object to provide a steam jet air exhauster with pipe connections to both of the two lateral suctions with which the conventional reciprocating pump is furnished. Usually only one of the two pump suctions is connected to a pump line as the other suction is blanked off by a flange. In my preferred apparatus I install a T in the pump line close to the pump and I connect this T to the air exhauster as well as to the opposite lateral pump suction. In the latter suction connection I also provide a non-return check valve which will open towards the air exhauster but close when the pump suction becomes greater than that of the air exhauster.

The invention also provides, like my previous patent, a flexible hose which may be attached to the pipe line at any convenient point and led into any of the oil tanks in the ships bottom.

In the drawing:--

Figure 1 shows my preferred apparatus on board an oil burning vessel and connected to a conventional reciprocating bilge or ballast pump.

Figure 2 shows the detail of my preferredcombination on an enlarged scale with a fractional section of the water end of the ballast pump.

(Cl. 1Q3--5) Referring to the drawing in Which like reference characters designate corresponding parts, 1 represents the oil burning vessel on which the reciprocating bilge pump 2, the bilge pump line 3, and the discharge lines and 5 are installed.

At a convenient place in the bilge line 3 the T- connection 6 is provided and the flexible hose 1 is attached to said connection.

The hose 1 is led into the double bottom of the vessel through the manhole 8 into the compartment 9 which is to be pumped and cleaned.

Above the bilge pump the steam operated air exhauster Ill is mounted and-connected to a convenient steam supply of the vessel, said connection not shown in the drawing.- 7

The discharge end of the air exhauster is connected to the discharge lines 4 and 5 by means of the pipe H5 and Y connection It, the lateral leg of which is connected tothe bilge-pump discharge I5. V

In order to show the action of my pumping apparatus I have shown a cross section of the bilge pump 2, which is of the conventional reciprocal type and provided with two lateral intakes 22 and 23 on each side of the cylinder 25, said intakes leading into the intake chamber ll which is provided on top of the cylinder.

On top of the intake chamber I1 is located the suction chamber which is divided in two. longitudinal compartments l8 by a center wall 24, the ends of the cylinder 2| being in communication with the said suction compartments.

On top of the suction compartments I8 is the common discharge chamber I9 located, and the diverse chambers are provided with the spring check valves 20 in the conventional manner.

The action of the apparatus is as follows:

Either the overboard discharge 4 or the discharge line 5 is opened. The bilge pump and the steam operated air exhauster are started and the end of the hose 7 is dipped into the viscous material which is to be removed from the compartment 9.

It is to be noted that the end of the flexible hose is only partially dipped into the material so that air together with viscous material will enter into the transmission line during the operation.

With the intake end sealed in the manner described and shown on the drawing, a piston wave of the viscous material is sucked up into and through the horizontal hose line sealing the same, whereby a vacuum is being rapidly built up by the exhauster in the bilge line 3.

The transmission through the horizontal bilge line is distinctly a slug transmission until the slug is forcibly discharged into the intake chamber ll of the bilge pump 2.

In this connection it is to be noted that a steam jet air exhauster is capable of discharging a great volume of air but is only capable of creating a relatively low vacuum-viz: 12 inches as indicated on the mercury gauge.

The bilge pump when used as a vacuum pump is capable of pumping only a small quantity of air but it is capable of creating a relatively high vacuum in excess of 24 inches as indicated on the mercury gauge.

Therefore as a great quantity of air at a moderate vacuum passes through the bilge line the air exhauster must withdraw this necessary transmission air from the system while the high suction of the bilge pump will withdraw the pumped material from the pump intake chamber into which it is delivered by the transmission momentum.

If all the transmission air was withdrawn through the T connection H the pumping would be readily established, but I have found that it is impossible to do this and I therefore provide a second air exhauster connection l2 at the other lateral bilge pump intake, through which the excess air in the intake chamber will quickly be sucked away from the slow moving material which is simultaneously sucked through the respective spring check valves 20 into the suction compartments I8.

I have found that the amount of attenuated air sucked into the cylinder is insufiicient to create an air cushioning efiect in the cylinder and the pump will not become air bound as I have found the case to be in the device disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 1,858,682.

The check valve l3 preserves the high vacuum which may be created by the piston action of the pumps, although it at the same time prevents a vacuum lower than that created by the air exhauster to exist in the pump intake chamber I1.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the specific details of construction as it is manifest that variations and modifications may be made in the adaption of the device to various conditions without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a pumping apparatus an air exhauster, a reciprocating pump, two lateral intakes in said pump and a connection from each of said lateral pump intakes to the air exhauster, said connections allowing at all times free passage of air from the intakes to the air exhauster.

2. A device adapted for the attachment to a reciprocating bilge pump on board maritime vessels comprising in combination a flexible hose connected to the bilge suction line and adapted to be led into the double bottom compartments of the vessel, an air exhauster, an open connection to the exhauster from the bilge line in the immediate vicinity of the pump and another connection to the intake chamber of the pump, said connection being provided with a non-return check valve.

3. The method of pumping viscous material by a reciprocating pump, said pump having the usual intake and suction chambers and a transmission line connected to the pump inlet, characterized by admitting air at the suction end of the transmission line while at all times withdrawing a great volume of moderately attenuated air from the intake chamber of the pump and allowing a high vacuum to develop in the suction chamber proper of said pump so as to draw in the material into said suction chamber.

4. In a pumping apparatus an air exhauster, a reciprocating pump, two intakes in said pump, a suction transmission line connected to one of said intakes, a connection from the air exhauster to said intake and another connection from the air exhauster to the other pump intake, said latter connection being provided with a non-return check valve.

BENGT OLSSON. 

